Kennedy to launch Congressional campaign in Newton Centre

Joe Kennedy III will announce his campaign for the Fourth Congressional district Thursday morning at the Newton Centre Green Line stop, according to a source close to the campaign.

By Chloe Gotsis

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Chloe Gotsis

Posted Feb. 15, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 15, 2012 at 3:20 PM

By Chloe Gotsis

Posted Feb. 15, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 15, 2012 at 3:20 PM

Newton

» Social News

Joe Kennedy III will announce his campaign for the Fourth Congressional district Thursday morning at the Newton Centre Green Line stop, according to a source close to the campaign.

Kennedy, 31, the son of former Congressman Joe Kennedy II and grandson of Robert Kennedy, announced in January that he was exploring a run for the seat currently held by Newton resident Barney Frank. A former Middlesex County assistant district attorney, Kennedy officially left his job with the state on Jan. 20.

Kennedy will be greeting voters at the the T stop at 70 Union Street at 7:45 a.m., kicking off a series of events around the district to announce his candidacy.

Since announcing his exploratory committee, Kennedy has attended house parties and recently moved from Cambridge into the district, in Brookline. The Brookline Town Clerk told our sister paper the Brookline TAB that Kennedy registered to vote as a Democrat on Feb. 7.

“I believe this country was founded on a simple idea: that every person deserves to be treated fairly, by each other and by their government, but that’s not happening in America anymore,” Kennedy said in advance of Thursday's announcement.

“I've spoken to people from across the 4th Congressional District - from Newton to Fall River - who believe that Washington no longer works for them. I will work hard to earn every vote and if elected bring that fight for fairness to the US Congress.”

Kennedy spent last weekend traveling around to many of the Democratic caucuses in the district, including Newton's.

Frank, a liberal stalwart, announced Nov. 28 that he wasn't running for a 17th term in the Congress citing the changes in his district from Congressional redistricting. The new 4th Congressional district includes about 325,000 new constituents.

In the hours after Frank's announcement, almost a dozen politicians expressed interest in a run for the seat, including City Year co-founder and former Senate candidate Alan Khazei, Taunton Sen. Marc Pacheco, former lieutenant governor candidate Deb Goldberg and Brookline selectman Jesse Mermell.

But within weeks, the hopefuls started retreating as a Kennedy campaign looked more like a reality.

Sen. Ted Kennedy's death in 2009 marked the first time in more than 60 years that there was no member of the storied political dynasty serving in Congress.